Thy pow'r! What thought can measure thce, or tongue Relate thue! Greater now in thy return Than from the giant Angels! thee that day 605 Thy thunders magnity'a! but to creale, Is ureater than created to destroy. Who can impair thee, nighty King, or bound Thy empire! Easily the proud attempt Of Spirits apostate and their counsels vain 610 Thou hast repell d, while impiously they thought Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw The number of thy worshippers. Who seeks To lessen thee, against his purpose serves To manitest the more thy might: bis evil 615 Thou lisest, and from thence creat'st more good. Witness this new-made world, another Heav'n l'rom Heav'm-gate not far, founded in view On the clear Hvaline, the glassy sea : Of amplitude almost immense, with stars 620 Num'rovs, and ev'ry star perhaps a world Of destined habitation; but thou know'st Their seasons : aniong these the seat of Men, Earth with her nether ocean circumfused, 62Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy Men, And sons of Men, whom God hath thus advanced, Created in his image, there to dwell And worship him, and in reward to rule Over his works, on earth, in sea, or air, And multiply a race of worshippers 630 Holy and just ! thrice happy if they know Their happiness, and persevere upright! So sung they, and the empyrean rung With Hallelujahs. Thus was Sabl ath kept. And thy request think now fulfill'd, that ask'd 65 How first this world and face of things began, And what before thy memory was done From the beginning, that posterity Inform'd by thee might know; if else thon scck'st Aught, not surpassing human measure, say. 6-10 605. Giant, not in allusion to their stature it is supposed, but to their pride and fierceness. 621. Nether, lo disliug uislı it from the water above the firniameul. BOOK VIII. THE ARGUMENT. Adam inquires concerning celestial motions; is doubtfully anrwered, and exhorted to search rather things more worthy of knowledge: Adam assents : and, still desirous to detain Raphael, relates to him what he ren:embered since his own creation, his placing in Paradise, his talk with God concerning solitude and fii society, his first meeting and nuptials with Eve, his discourse with the Angel thereupon; who, after admonitions repeated, departs. The Angel ended, and in Adam's ear So charming left his voice, that he awhile Thought him still speaking, still stood fix'd to hear; Then, as new waked, thus gratefully reply'd: What thanks sufficient, or what recompense 6 Equal have I to render thee, divine Historian, who thus largely hast allay'd The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsafed This friendly condescension to relate Things else by me unsearchable, now heard 10 With wonder, but delight, and, as is due, With glory attributed to the High Creator? Something yet of doubt remains, Which only thy solution can resolve. When I behold this goodiy frame, this world, 15 Of Heav'n and Earth consisting, and compute Their magnitudes; this earth, a spot, a grain, An atom, with the firmament compared And all her number'd stars, that seem to roll Spaces incomprehensible (for such 20 Their distance argues, and their swift return Diurnal) merely to officiate light Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot, One day and night, in all their vast survey 15. Allusion is made in the following part of the discourse be "ween Raphael and Adam, to the two most celebrated systems of astronomy, those of Proleny and Copernicus: the difference in which was, that the former made the earth, the latter the sun, the centre of the universe. Adam speaks in allusion to the Ptolemaic systeni, ard the Angel answers by detailing the usual explanations formerly given of the difficulties alleged. 19. Number'd, Ps. cxlvii. 4. Useless besides; reasoning I oft admire 25 Wherein to road his wondrous works, and learn 75 85 Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposest That bodies bright and greater should not serve The less not bright, nor Heav'n such journeys run, Earth sitting still, when she alone receives The benefit. Consider first, that great 90 Or bright infers not excellence: the earth, Though, in comparison of Heav'n, so small, Nor glist'ring, may of solid goud contain More plenty than the sun that barren shines, Whuse virtue on itself works no effect, But in the fruitful earth; there first received His beams, unactive else, their vigour find. Yet not to earth are those bright luminaries Officious, but to thee earth’s habitant. And for the Heav'n's wide circuit, let it speak 100 The Maker's high magnificence, who built So spacious, and his line stretch'd out so far, That man may know he dwells not in his own: An edifice too large for him to fill, Lodged in a small partition, and the rest 105 80. Calculate, te observe scientifically. 83. Centric, or concentric, are spheres whose centre is the same with that of the earth.- Eccentric are the contrary.-Cycle is a circle, and Epicycle a circle upon a circle. They are terms invented by the Ptolemaics, and used in explaining their system. 102. Job xxviii. 5. 95 Ordain'd for usts to his Lord best known. 130 130 Which else to sev'ral spheres thou must ascribe, Moved contrary with thwart obliquities, Or save the sun his labour, and that swift Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb, supposed, Invisible else above all stars, the wheel 135 Of day and night; which needs not thy belief, If earth industrious of herself fetch day Travelling east, and with her part averse From the sun's beam meet night, her other part Still luminous by his ray. What if that light, 140 Sent from her through the wide transpicuous air, To the terrestrial moon, be as a star Enlight'ning her by day, as she by night This earth ? reciprocal, if land be there, Fields and inbabitants. Her spots thou seest 145 122. The Copernican system is now mentioned. 134. Drurnal rhomb, explained in the next line, as, the wheel of day and night |